Health expert says Romania should increase its COVID-19 testing capacity

Romania's testing capacity should increase "substantially," said Alexandru Rafila, Romania's representative at the World Health Organization and a candidate of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) at the upcoming general elections. According to him, about 80,000-100,000 tests should be performed in Romania daily.

"At the current situation in Romania, the testing capacity must increase substantially. In my opinion, we need to be able to test 80,000 to 100,000 daily, or even to exceed half a million tests in one week, and this must be done permanently," Alexandru Rafila said on Thursday, November 5, News.ro reported.

"However, there are problems related to the operation of some laboratories, especially on weekends, when they work less. Moreover, we have a problem with the proportion of positive tests out of the total tests performed. On Sunday, we had a share of 40%, and in the following days, we had somewhere between 25 and 28%," he added.

Prime minister Ludovic Orban said on Thursday evening, at local news station Digi24, that the authorities have steadily increased the testing capacity, and the current installed capacity is of over 50,000 tests/day. He dismissed as "an aberration" the idea that Romania doesn't test more because the health system would be overwhelmed by an even higher number of patients, according to News.ro.

The prime minister explained that the COVID-19 testing is done based on the rules set under the health protocol, and that the epidemiologists should decide if more tests are needed. "We test as much as we have to, according to the rules that apply today," he said.

PM Orban also said that the Romanian authorities plan to purchase three million antigen tests to be used in triage or emergency units.

According to official figures from the Strategic Communication Group, Romania increased its testing capacity continuously since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic started in the country, and can currently perform more than 800,000 tests per month. The country's testing capacity increased from less than 100 tests/day in March to over 40,000 tests/day in October.